Break the Silence

Break the Silence is a booklet about talking about sexual abuse. Twenty lads in Manchester come together to tell the collective journey of breaking their silence to find healing in the hope of helping others. Read their stories below.

Introduction

Welcome to Break the Silence, written by male survivors for male survivors. The aim of this book is to do something that can be really difficult to do… talk about the sexual abuse and rape of boys and men.

We hope that the boy or man reading this might not feel so alone anymore, because we know how that feels. Dealing with the impact or legacy of sexual abuse can be emotional, confusing, draining, and sometimes feels like it’s just too difficult and never going to end. But it does get easier, we can’t guarantee when but if you want it to and work at it then it will. That’s where, hopefully, this book comes in useful.

This book contains our stories and creative writing; the drawings and illustrations we did, and information and advice from us and some professionals. We wanted this to be a book of REAL WORDS from REAL PEOPLE about a REAL ISSUE!

Some things you read you might find difficult. Other things might stir up some emotions. So our best advice is to read it at your own pace, it doesn’t have to be read all at once. The fact that you’ve even picked this up proves that you are already breaking the silence, keep going.

We welcome donations and opportunities to work in partnership with individuals and organisations. Living Well is an initiative of Anglicare Southern Queensland. Supported by the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney General and private donations.